


wasteland, baby!

by InsideMyBrain



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Amusement Parks, Breaking and Entering, Fire, M/M, Pining, Possibly Unrequited Love, References to Shakespeare, Spiders, Subtext, but it's so obvious its basically Text, kevin is a little shit, the implications are Sad but you can choose to ignore it so its ambiguous in my book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 15:04:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23167198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsideMyBrain/pseuds/InsideMyBrain
Summary: For their latest nighttime adventure, Kevin wants to go to the amusement park.
Relationships: Daniel Condren/Kevin O'Reilly
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38
Collections: 413 Fic Exchange





	wasteland, baby!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alavillamaillahallanvaara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alavillamaillahallanvaara/gifts).

> This was written from the prompt, "Dan and Kev go to an amusement park" from alavillamaillahallanvaara - though I think I took it in a bit of a different direction than you might have been expecting? hope you enjoy anyway, friendo!
> 
> as always, a disclaimer: this is a work of fiction and not intended to represent anything going on IRL with these lads. this was written for fun and is not meant for Kevin or Daniel's eyes. so please don't send this to them or anyone affiliated with them. thanks!
> 
> title, of course, from the song of the same name by Hozier.

Nighttime is best if you don't want to get turned, everybody says. It's only been a couple months since Ireland declared a national emergency (following the rest of the world) but it seems the entire country has readily adapted to the new threat of the undead roaming the streets. Grocery stores and pharmacies have changed their hours to mostly overnight, to reduce the risk of employees and citizens being turned while shopping for necessities. For some mysterious reason, the zombies seem to derive strength from the sun: moving faster, aiming more precisely. At night, they're sluggish and dopey, their maws dripping drool and arms outstretched like ones from an unoriginal B-movie. Night turns them into a nuisance at worst, so most of the world has shifted to be nocturnal. 

Even so, most people don't go out at night unless they have to. No need to take unnecessary risks, after all. 

Unless, of course, you're Kevin O'Reilly. 

Daniel's startled out of his maths homework one night by the sound of a knock on his bedroom window. He quickly looks up from his desk that faces the window and leans forward to peer outside. 

Dusk has barely fallen, but there's already a few people out and about on the street. Daniel squints hard, looking at their skin and their eyes to see whether they're zombies, but it's hard to tell from a distance. In any case, Kevin, standing in his front garden, doesn't seem worried for his safety. Daniel opens the window and pushes aside the screen to lean out with a smirk. 

"Wherefore art thou, Kevin?" he calls.

Kevin's holding a handful of rocks in one hand and a lighter in the other. Slung over his shoulder is his backpack from when in-person school was still in session, though Daniel highly doubts there's books in there. He chucks another rock at Daniel's window, this time aiming it to the side so that it hits the shingles of the roof, then rolls down to the storm drain. 

"In English, please," Kevin replies, mirroring Daniel's smirk. He tosses the rest of the rocks into Daniel's driveway, no doubt where he got them from. "Come on out. We haven't hung out in ages, and I'm_ bored_. I wanna go somewhere fun."

Daniel glances back at his homework, then out the window again at Kevin. "I have work to do tonight," he says apologetically. 

Kevin sticks out his bottom lip. "Feck schoolwork," he replies. "When's it due?"

"Tomorrow." 

Kevin shrugs. "I promise I won't have you back too late, so you can get it done before then."

Daniel thinks for a moment, then relents. "Alright. Gimme two seconds."

He pulls away and shuts the window, then quietly tiptoes downstairs. His parents are themselves cooped up in their own rooms, and he's never told them about these increasingly-frequent nighttime outings with Kevin. They worry too much, and besides, Daniel can take care of himself. He shrugs on a fleece-lined jean jacket and grabs his own backpack, the spanner inside that he uses as a makeshift weapon shifting and clinking. He eases the door open and slips outside before locking the door behind him and walking down the steps to join Kevin. 

"Where we headed tonight?" Daniel asks. 

"I was actually thinking the amusement park," Kevin says.

Daniel raises his eyebrows. "Really? Why?"

Kevin shrugs. In the dark, Daniel thinks he can see his friend's cheeks flushing, but he might be mistaken. "I haven't been since last year, and I'm feeling nostalgic. Wanna remember all the good times I had there last summer." He flashes a smile, the light from a nearby streetlamp catching on his teeth. 

Daniel kicks at a pebble. "Won't that be a bit depressing?"

"So's everything else in my life right now," Kevin points out, "so it can't be worse than any other destination."

Daniel lets himself smile back. "Fair play."

They set off for the amusement park, Kevin following directions on his phone and Daniel watching out for any nearby zombies. They pass a few here and there, but the zombies simply ignore them in favour of easier prey: pigeons, stray cats, shadows they mistake for people. Once, a group of three zombies notice Daniel and Kevin coming up the walk toward them and lurch forward with a trio of groans. Daniel freezes up in fear for a moment, then flings out an arm to stop Kevin from walking any further.

Kevin glances up from Google Maps and his rant about the Sims 4 mods dies on his lips. "Oh shit," he blurts. The zombies are spreading out, blocking them from going forward and continuing on their way, so Daniel tugs on his arm impatiently. 

"Come on," he urges Kevin. "We'll double back around."

Kevin gives him a nod, then grabs Daniel's hand, and they start running. Even with fear and adrenaline pumping through him, all Daniel can focus on is Kevin's warm hand in his, and he idly wonders why he's so warm even in the chilly night air. They dash down the street and duck into an alley, then cautiously emerge on the other side of it. This street is empty and quiet, and Kevin lets out a breath. 

"They're not following us anymore, right?" Kevin asks. Daniel glances behind him down the alley, and between the buildings he catches a glimpse of the street they were just on. It's also quiet.

"Nope, I think we lost them," he says. 

"Thank God, that was close," Kevin replies. He drops Daniel's hand, and it falls limply to his side. The heat where his palm fit snugly against Daniel's dissipates into the night air, and Daniel resists the urge to sigh. 

They continue making their way toward the amusement park, cursing the lack of public transport. 

"Why'd you have to pick somewhere so far away?" Daniel negs him at one point. "I'm beginning to think you picked this on purpose so I'd never get my homework done."

"Would that be so bad?" Kevin smirks, and Daniel has to look away to hide the sudden flush on his cheeks. "Nah, you're right, this might have been a mistake. But we're almost there, so I'm not turning back now." He skips ahead, whistling something that sounds suspiciously like _Can't Help Falling In Love_, and Daniel breaks into a jog to catch up. 

The amusement park gates loom ominously in the night once they finally reach them. They're chained and padlocked securely, of course, but they're not so hard to climb over - the two of them have done enough breaking and entering to know exactly how to deal with all kinds of barriers. Kevin gives Daniel a boost, and he easily clambers over the top and drops to the ground, wincing as his feet hit the concrete. Kevin gets himself over with a significant amount of grunting and a fair bit of teasing from Daniel, then lands on the other side beside him. 

"Right. What now?" Daniel asks, casting his gaze around. This place was one of the first to be closed down, so it's becoming overgrown: weeds sprouting from every tiny crack in the walkways and ivy curling up the sides of the buildings. The only sound, apart from their breathing, is the wind whipping through the tall grasses at the sides of the path, and the whole scene feels lonely and sad. Daniel shivers. 

"What now?" Kevin repeats. "Now we explore." He beams, and Daniel wishes, not for the first time, he possessed Kevin's unfailing optimism. Kevin starts skipping down the path, and Daniel follows him despite the leaden weights that seem to have settled in his heart. 

“Ah man, I wish it was summertime,” Kevin sighs wistfully once Daniel falls into step beside him. “The last time I came here it was, like, the hottest day of the year, and I came with Max and Henry and Liam.” Daniel nods, calling up the images of Kevin’s friends to accurately sketch out the scene Kevin’s about to describe to him. “We were just, like, goofing around the whole time and blowing all the money in our pockets. I remember I bought this almond-flavoured fudge that wasn’t even good, and I tried to give it to Henry but he didn’t like it either, so we just ended up throwing it out.” Kevin’s smile fades, then he looks down at his feet. “Awfully wasteful of us, I know. But…” He raises his head again, glancing beside him at Daniel. “I wish I could be wasteful like that again.”

“Yeah,” Daniel breathes. He tips his head upward to look at the starry night sky – ever since most businesses got shut down, the city sky has been packed with stars every night. It’s beautiful, sure, but Daniel would trade every one of those stars for things to be normal again. “Me too.”

They fall silent for a moment, Kevin’s good mood seemingly dampered by his recollection, until they pass a gate leading to a haunted house attraction. Kevin grabs Daniel’s arm and points it out.

“Hey, you wanna go inside?” He raises his eyebrows. “Maybe it’s_ really _haunted now.”

Daniel grins, grateful for something to latch on to so as to forget the awkwardness of Kevin’s memory. “Why not? I bet I can last longer than you.”

Kevin vaults over the gate, then chuckles. “Don't make those kinds of bets when we're in public, Dan.”

Daniel laughs too and follows him over the gate. The attraction doesn’t even have a proper door, just a huge doorway like a yawning mouth, so they walk right in. A bit of light slants in from the outside, but otherwise, it’s pitch-black. Daniel squints.

“Not to worry,” Kevin says, pulling something from his pocket. It’s the lighter he held earlier, and he flicks it easily. The tiny flame shoots upward, flickering back and forth, providing them with a little bit of light. “There we go. You wanna go first?” He gestures towards the long hallway to the left of them that seems to go on for eternity.

“No thanks,” Daniel says, “if you have the light, you should probably go first. Besides, I don’t trust you out of my sight with a lighter. I feel like you’re gonna accidentally set my hair on fire or something.”

“It’s just like Don’t Starve all over again,” Kevin jokes, then steps ahead of him, holding out the lighter. Over Kevin’s shoulder, Daniel can still barely see a few feet in front of him, but steels his nerves and starts heading down the hallway.

As they walk, Daniel’s eyes begin to adjust, and he can see nooks and crannies in the walls where actors would have hid, small spotlights that have long since been turned off for good, and imagines puffs of smoke and witch cackling at every turn. He stumbles on some uneven ground, then clutches at the back of Kevin’s jacket to steady himself. 

“You good?” Kevin asks, looking over his shoulder.

“Yep.” Daniel fights to keep his voice level.

“Good. I was afraid the ghosts got you for a moment there,” Kevin jokes, then looks forward again. He turns to the right, down another hallway, and Daniel follows him.

In another few steps, they find themselves in a large room with swirls on the walls. Surely, when this attraction was still in operation, it would have been a lot scarier, but now the silliness of it relaxes Daniel. “What are we, in a Junji Ito book?” he jokes.

“I love it when you remind me how illiterate I am,” Kevin jokes back. They stand still for a moment, looking around the room. “What do you think this was used for before it shut down?”

Daniel shrugs. “Who knows? Maybe getting you confused so that you didn’t know which way was out?”

“Hmm, yeah, probably.” Kevin agrees. “I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t know where to go from here. All the doors are painted over, I think.”

Daniel looks around and realizes it’s true. “Well, we just gotta feel for cracks in the walls, I guess.” He crosses to the opposite wall and starts running his hands over it, feeling for any outline of a door. He doesn’t really feel anything on that wall, so he moves to the one perpendicular to it.

He glances behind him to see Kevin doing the same with the third wall. “You find any d-” he starts to call out, but the sentence gets stuck in his throat when he feels a tickle across the back of his hand. He whips his head back around to see an_ enormous _daddy longlegs crawling across the back of his hand.

His heart is pounding. He wants to scream, but his throat is too dry. The spider stops moving for a moment, then changes directions and starts heading towards the sleeve of his jacket.

“Daniel, you okay?” Kevin calls. The sound of his voice barely registers in Daniel’s mind, because he leaps away from the wall with a shriek, shaking his hand furiously.

“Get it off, get it off, get it off, fuck off, please-” he’s babbling incoherently, and then Kevin’s hands are on his shoulders.

“Get what off? Dan?” He’s concerned, and Daniel should probably tell him it’s just a spider freaking him out, but he’s too panicked to care. He throws off his jacket and starts violently shaking it out.

“Get out, get it out, holy fuck…”

“Dan!” Daniel looks up from his jacket to see Kevin staring at him with a steady, level gaze, even as his voice is laced with worry.

“It’s just a spider, sorry to freak you out, but I’m so afraid this thing is in my jacket now-”

“Let me see.” Kevin takes the jacket from him and holds the lighter up to examine it. That just increases Daniel’s nervousness, to be quite honest, but he holds his tongue, knowing Kevin’s just trying to help. After a moment, Kevin hands it back to him.

“Spider-free,” he tells him. “The spider must have fallen back to the floor. You okay now?”

“Yeah.” Daniel puts the jacket back on, shivering. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Kevin holds the lighter up to the ceiling, squinting. “Oh yeah, this place is absolutely covered in spiderwebs.”

Daniel cringes at the thought, imagining dozens of spiderwebs surrounding him, just outside of his field of vision. Kevin notices, and says, “you wanna get out of here?”

He’s kind of regretting telling Kevin he could last longer than him, now, but he’ll be damned if he goes back on it, so he swallows his fear and says, “damn, at least buy me dinner first.” Kevin chuckles in response. “Nah, I’m good to continue.”

“Alright,” Kevin says, then, “hey, I never showed you what I’ve got in my backpack.” His voice has that mischievous quality to it again, and Daniel’s immediately filled with apprehension. Kevin shrugs the bag off his back, then unzips it and reaches in. A second later, he pulls out an aerosol can of hairspray.

“I was expecting a lot worse,” Daniel comments. “But why hairspray?”

Kevin’s lips curl upwards into a diabolical grin, and he holds up the lighter in front of it.

“Kevin, no.”

"Kevin, yes!" Kevin says. "I could purge this whole room of spiderwebs in a second."

"Yeah, and then you'd burn the whole building down," Daniel counters. 

"Hmm." Kevin lowers the lighter, and Daniel can breathe again. Then, he says, "worth it," and holds up the lighter while pressing down on the top of the hairspray can.

_ "Kevin!" _

A stream of flame shoots out from the can, heating the air around them and lighting up the room. Kevin's maniacal cackles echo over the crackling sounds of fire. Daniel's sweating from the sudden heat. Kevin swings his arm around, and the stream catches on a spiderweb hanging from the ceiling. Daniel watches it burn up and melt, the flames travelling up the thin strands and dropping as ash on to the floor. Kevin stops spraying the can and lowers his arm, grinning. "See, I could just-"

"Kevin, the wall's on fire."

"Huh?" Kevin whips around and sees that Daniel's right - the fire has taken hold on the wallpaper, burning up one of the many spirals. Kevin takes off his jacket and smothers the small fire quickly. "There we go. See? I'm just solving problems left and right over here."

Daniel glares. "It wouldn't have been a problem if you didn't start the fire in the first place, but whatever."

Kevin removes his jacket from the wall slowly. Sure enough, the fire's been put out. He tsks, checking the inside of his jacket. "I'll have to replace this lining."

Daniel nudges him. "It's your own fault. C'mon, let's turn back. I can't find a way to continue."

Kevin shrugs the jacket on. "Maybe the door's locked from the other side."

Once they emerge from the haunted house back on to the path again, they stand in silence under the moon for a moment. "This outing has been kind of a disaster so far," Kevin says quietly. "Sorry, Dan."

"An outing with you wouldn't be complete without a disaster," Daniel replies. 

Kevin chuckles. "I guess. But I wanted to do something a little special tonight, so I feel bad that it's all gone to shit."

Daniel looks at him curiously. "Why?"

Kevin clears his throat loudly. "I've another idea, though, of what we could do before we go home." 

"Oh?"

Kevin lifts his arm and points, and Daniel's eyes follow his finger. The massive Ferris wheel stands in the distance, silhouetted against the night sky.

“I mean, obviously we couldn’t get it working, but we could climb into one of the cars…” Kevin’s voice falters, and he glances down. “I don’t know, maybe that’s kind of pathetic.”

Daniel grabs his arm. “So’s everything else in my life right now, so it can’t be any worse than any other idea.”

Kevin grins up at him again, and Daniel starts walking, dragging him along. Once they reach the Ferris wheel at the very centre of the park, they hop the small fence that marks out the lineup for the ride and walk up to the base of it.

"I kinda wanna climb all the way up to the top," Kevin says, climbing into the passenger car closest to the ground. 

"I'm not doing that," replies Daniel, climbing in beside him. 

"Fair," Kevin concedes. He turns to face the opposite way that the car is, and grabs the bottom of the car above them. "Can we climb up to the third one from the ground, though?"

"Fine," Daniel says. "Not going any higher than that, though."

"Got it." Kevin flashes him a grin, then hauls himself up to the car, using the bar that separates their car from the next as a stepping stone. Then he turns and holds his hand out to Daniel. Daniel grabs it and pulls himself up to join Kevin. Then they do the same for the next car above that. 

Kevin lets out a sigh of satisfaction as he settles into the seat, sliding over as Daniel sits beside him. A cool breeze ruffles their hair and picks through their jackets. Daniel rests his chin on his hands and looks out across the amusement park. The car is just high enough to clear the tops of the trees, and though he can't see the entire park, he can see for quite a while in one direction. 

Kevin shrugs his backpack off his shoulders and sets it at his feet as Daniel continues to stare out at the night. "I brought snacks actually," Kevin confesses, pulling out a couple bags. "Including your favourite."

Daniel looks back at Kevin and smiles. "Junior Mints! Thanks, Kev." 

Kevin passes him the box, and he rips it open eagerly. "No problem." Then he opens a bag of chips for himself. "Hey, when was the last time you were here, Dan?"

Daniel pops one in his mouth, savours the taste of dark chocolate and mint, and returns his gaze to the park grounds. "Hm, it must have been like, two years ago," he muses. Kevin crunches his chips beside him. "I came with a big group of friends that... That I don't talk to anymore. It was really hot and we spent all day here, so I got sunburnt to fuck." He chuckles, recalling his lobster-red skin the day after, and eats another mint. "I actually went up this Ferris wheel with a girl I liked at the time. I wanted to confess at the top." He glances back at Kevin. "Pretty corny, huh?"

"Haha, yeah." Kevin stuffs another fistful of chips in his mouth. 

"So I did," Daniel says, "and got rejected." He looks down at his hands. 

There's a moment of quiet before Kevin says, "I'm sorry."

Daniel smiles at him. "I mean, I'm over it now. But it was pretty rough at the time." 

They fall silent after that. Daniel doesn't know how long they sit there, comfortably side by side, each consumed by their own thoughts. He wishes he could freeze time and stay here forever, in this little bubble where nothing matters; not the zombies, not their parents, not school, not even the overwhelming question of whether Kevin loves him in _that _way. Here, Daniel's crush doesn't matter, because he knows that Kevin loves him by the way he lets Daniel rest his head on his shoulder, the gentleness in his motions as he offers Daniel another box of Junior Mints. Nothing is okay and he doesn't know if it ever will be again, but Kevin loves him, and that's enough. It has to be.

Eventually, Kevin checks his phone for the time and nudges Daniel. "C'mon. We gotta get home before the sun rises."

Daniel nods and stretches, hearing his joints crack. They climb down the Ferris wheel slowly and carefully, then make their way to the front gate, scaling it quickly and making their way home. When they reach Daniel's house, Daniel wants to sweep Kevin into a hug, stroke his hair and whisper into his ear, _be safe. For the love of God, be safe. I can't bear to lose this, to lose you. _Instead, he just says, "text me when you get home."

"I will," Kevin says, "I always do."

"I know, I just need to remind you."

"Yep, I know. Every single time." Kevin chuckles. "Good luck on that homework, by the way." 

"Fuck, I completely forgot about that!" Daniel groans. "Well, now I gotta stay up all day doing that."

"Have fun," Kevin says, then turns down the road to go home.

Daniel slips inside quietly, then watches Kevin walk down the road from his front window. Once he's disappeared from Daniel's line of sight, he sneaks back up to his bedroom, flops on his bed, holds his phone to his chest, and waits for Kevin's text.

And waits. And waits. And waits. 


End file.
